1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for presenting programs to a user. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and a method for presenting programs to a user that facilitate selecting programs from a multitude of programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional system for displaying a program, e.g., a video program, includes a monitor or a television (TV) set connected to a set top box. The set top box is connected through a coaxial cable to a cable TV network or a satellite dish for “satellite TV.” The TV set and the set top box are located, for example, in a user's home and receive a multitude of TV channels from a broadcast head end, wherein each TV channel has a multitude of programs during a typical day. In order to select and watch a certain program, the user controls, for example, the set top box to tune to a desired channel. The TV set receives a video signal from the set top box and displays the program of the desired channel.
A user may expand the system by connecting a video recorder to the TV set and the set top box to personalize television viewing by recording a program and watching it when it is convenient for the user. For instance, the video recorder may be a digital video recorder that includes a hard disk drive with a storage capacity of between 10 GB and 30 GB for recording of up to 30 hours of television programming. Further, the user may subscribe to and receive premium content such as subscription channels, pay-per-view services or video-on-demand services in order to watch a movie on a certain day and at a time of day for which the user has to pay a per-movie fee. The user may further personalize television viewing by subscribing to services such as ReplayTV (offered by Replay Network) and TiVo (offered by Philips).
The conventional system enables the viewer to receive a multitude of programs from which the user can select preferred programs, for example, for watching as “live” TV or for recording. Although the user may use program guides in paper or electronic format, or may “surf” through the programs, the number of program channels, potentially hundreds of program channels, make a program selection tedious and very time consuming. There is therefore a need to improve upon the prior art technique for presenting programs to a user so that the user's selection of preferred programs is facilitated.